Forest Stewards Guild

Carbon Markets Panel for Landowners
2020-12-02 18:00 - 19:15 (America/New_York)
Register
December 2, 2020
6:00 – 7:15 p.m. CT
Join us for a virtual panel discussion about the science and management of carbon sequestration on private lands! New policies are helping landowners earn money by capturing carbon in woodlands, grasslands, and agricultural soils. Yet carbon trading may not be the best option in all contexts, and navigating the regulations required for participation can be a daunting task.
In this panel discussion, get an introduction to the science and logistics of carbon sequestration on private lands from scientists, industry leaders, carbon market participants, and critics.
Our panelists include:
Angela & Anthony Waupochick, Menominee Forest Managers
Charlie Mitchell, Journalist and Organizer at the Wisconsin Farmers Union
Gregg Sandford, PhD, Research Scientist in the UW-Madison Agronomy Department
Jeff Cole, Credit Sales at Carbon Forest Works
Jonathan Shears, Family Forest Carbon Program and American Forest Foundation
Josh Parrish, Director of the American Forest Carbon Initiative for The Nature Conservancy
Jon Stewart, an Oregon landowner working with Forest Carbon Works
Tim Leiby, Landowner and Early Participant in Carbon Markets
Moderated by:
Kylie Clay, Forest Carbon and Climate Program, Michigan State University
Organized by:
Tyler Byrnes, Anna George, Ben Iuliano, Gabriela Motta, Ben Nickley, Niko Tutland, Tierney Bocsi, and Adena Rissman, in partnership with the UW Madison Nelson Institute of Environmental Studies and the Department of Forest and Wildlife Ecology.

Minnesota Forest Management and Wildlife Habitat Summit
2020-12-08 09:00 - 2020-12-10 12:00 UTC
Register ($50 SFEC members and students, $100 SFEC nonmembers. Includes exclusive access to recorded content.)
December 8 – 10, 2020
9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. CT
Agenda
CFE credits are pending.
Originally planned as a large symposium modeled after our October 2017 event, this is offered by the University of Minnesota’s Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative (SFEC) in collaboration with the Minnesota Forest Habitat Collaborative. During three, 3-hour sessions, we’ll dig into:

how much forest-dependent wildlife habitat is enough,
how that answer varies by species group and habitat type, and
how we determine how much is enough at the landscape and site levels.

Expect a series of short presentations with active online discussion.
Each session will include time for both presentations and active discussion. We’ll treat this like a short online course, with optional readings and other resources before each session. Expect active engagement and plan to get out of it as much as you put in!

Wildfire Management on Rural Lands
2020-12-14 10:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Register (Webinar instructions will be emailed before the date of the webinar)
(Self study price is $299. Save $100 when registering 3 or more people)
December 14, 2020
10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. CT (11 a.m. – 6 p.m. ET)
Continuing education credits of several types are available. See registration page for details.
Included:
Wildfire Science and History – J. Bailey
History of wildfire in the American
West Causes and effects of wildfire
Effect of fire on built environment
Land use planning
Federal, state and local fire planning
Creating Resilient Landscapes – J. Bailey
Managing vegetation
Managing fuels
Adapting Communities to Fire Risks – D. Lasky,
Reducing possibilities for ignition – M. Matonis,
Reducing fuel – C. Marshall
Protecting community assets
Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP)
Responding to Wildfires – D. Lasky
Responding safely and efficiently to fire Structure protection
Strategies to limit spread of fire Public safety concerns

Saying Yes to Wildlands and Woodlands
2020-12-15 16:00 - 17:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
December 15, 2020
4:00 – 5:30 p.m. ET
The webinar will demonstrate that protecting both wildlands and woodlands is an effective approach to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss and economic security, and it should prove interesting to people who are simply curious about forest conservation to experts who work in related fields.
Summary:
How can New England best protect its forests as the region sits at the precipice of climate change, biodiversity loss, development, and forest fragmentation?
The answer to this question often falls in one of two camps: either conserve forests as working lands that provide timber and other forest products, or protect them as wildlands without timber harvesting. In this critical and timely discussion, two region-wide conservation organizations who approach forest protection from seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum will show how the strategies of protecting wildlands—forests largely left in a natural and undisturbed condition—and woodlands—forests managed to provide wood products—are not in conflict, but can in fact be complementary.
Hosted by New England Forestry Foundation, Northeast Wilderness Trust, Highstead Foundation, and Harvard Forest

Opening the Burn Window - Fueling Collaboration Panel Discussion Series #2
2020-12-17 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register (for one or more in the series)
December 17, 2020 – Using Fire Seasonality to Open the Burn Window
Noon – 1:30 p.m. ET
This discussion has been approved for 1.5 Category 1 CEU’s by the Society of American Foresters.
How can we use science-based reasoning to support burning outside of the dormant season? Our panel will discuss their work and your questions on this topic. Check back here for updates, resources, and eventually the recording of this discussion.
This series of interactive panel discussions is designed to encourage collaboration between fire managers and researchers. The series will be built on questions from the registered attendees. Join us for a chance to get the latest in fire science and management and answers to your burning questions.

Forest Biodiversity and Species Shifts. Science and Practice: Addressing Forest Climate Change in Maine series #4
2021-01-06 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Halifax)
Register (for one or more in the series)
January 6, 2020
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. ET
Presenters: Erin Simons-Legaard, Assistant Research Professor in Forest Landscape Modeling
The Forest Climate Change Initiative and Forest Stewards Guild invite you to join us each month as a panel of researchers, scientists, and stakeholders tackle issues of climate change and how it is influencing Maine’s forests and forest economy. Although Maine’s forest is relatively unique, these webinar topics are open discussions aimed at an audience in or outside of Maine. We believe these issues and challenges that need addressing are similar to other regions. Better understanding and articulating commonality as well as differences will be important for testing effective solutions, particularly when drafting potential policies.

Fire and a Changing Climate - Fueling Collaboration Panel Discussion Series #3
2021-01-21 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register (for one or more in the series)
January 21, 2021 – Fire and a Changing Climate
Noon – 1:30 p.m. ET
This discussion has been approved for 1.5 Category 1 CEU’s by the Society of American Foresters.
Can we use climate predictions to plan future fire management and research? How are we adapting now? Our panel will discuss their work and your questions on this topic. Check back here for updates, resources, and eventually the recording of this discussion.
This series of interactive panel discussions is designed to encourage collaboration between fire managers and researchers. The series will be built on questions from the registered attendees. Join us for a chance to get the latest in fire science and management and answers to your burning questions.

Adaptation Planning and Practices training
2021-01-25 14:00 - 2021-03-15 15:00 (America/Halifax)
Register (registration ends December 20, 2020)
January 25-March 15, 2021
The Northern Institute of Applied Climate Science and USDA Northern Forests Climate Hub are offering the Adaptation Planning and Practices training as an online course for forest and natural resource managers.
This unique opportunity provides hands-on training in considering climate change information and identifying adaptation actions for natural resources management professionals working in forests and natural ecosystems. Participants will receive coaching and feedback while using the Adaptation Workbook to develop their own real-world climate adaptation project. The course consists of seven web sessions with work time occurring between sessions.
Information will focus on forest ecosystems, urban forests, and forested watersheds in the Midwest and Northeast, but applicants from other regions should apply and may be accepted if space allows.

What’s Happening On (and under) All That Snow?
2021-01-25 19:00 - 20:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
January 25, 2021
7:00 p.m. ET
Join the Londonderry Conservation Commission for a virtual presentation with Wildlife biologist Tom Rogers from The Nature Conservancy. Tom will lead us through a photographic journey of winter in the Green Mountain State, immediately followed by a question and answer session. We’ll find out: how Vermont’s wildlife make it through our cold, snowy winters, what’s going on under all that snow, how is climate change affecting all of this and what can we do to help wildlife make it through the winter?

ForestHer NC Workshop - Enjoying Your Woods Webinar #2
2021-02-11 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
February 11, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET
Hear about planning and designing modern sustainable trails and how to incorporate forestry aesthetics into your woodlot management. Presenters will cover the basics of modern trail design that maximizes user enjoyment and minimizes maintenance requirements and provide some practical tips to minimize the negative visual effects of cutting and removing trees from your woodlot.
Presenters
Amanda Smithson: Mountain Trail Specialist, NC State Parks,
Presentation: Modern Sustainable Trails – Planning and Design
Dave Halley: True North Forest Management Services
Presentation: Incorporating Forest Aesthetics into Your Woodlot Management

Forest Ecology and Management Webinar Series event
2021-02-16 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax)
Register
February 16, 2021
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. ET
Event flyer for download
Title: New Applications for Terrestrial LiDAR Systems, Monitoring Forests, Fuels and Ecosystem Health
Presenters: J. Kevin Hiers and Scott Pokswinski of Tall Timbers Research Station in Tallahassee, Florida.
Summary:
Traditional forestry, ecological, and fuels monitoring methods are costly, error-prone and are rarely analyzed. The application of Terrestrial LIDAR System (TLS) units to monitoring methods can help standardize data collection resulting in improved efficiency, reduced error, and datasets that can easily be analyzed to better inform management decisions.

Timber Management and Prescribed Fire - Fueling Collaboration Panel Discussion Series #4
2021-02-18 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register (for one or more in the series)
February 18, 2021 – Timber Management and Prescribed Fire
Noon – 1:30 p.m. ET
This discussion has been approved for 1.5 Category 1 CEU’s by the Society of American Foresters.
How can we best use fire in sites with timber management objectives? Our panel will discuss their work and your questions on this topic. Check back here for updates, resources, and eventually the recording of this discussion.
This series of interactive panel discussions is designed to encourage collaboration between fire managers and researchers. The series will be built on questions from the registered attendees. Join us for a chance to get the latest in fire science and management and answers to your burning questions.

Woods to Home. #2 in the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series
2021-02-24 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
February 24, 2021
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
Learn about the process of building a home with locally harvested lumber and the benefits of using local wood products.
Join us for a session on building a home with locally sourced wood products, featuring discussions with Massachusetts Woodlands Institute (MWI) Board Chair Brian Donahue, MWI Board Member David Bowman, and Nicole St. Clair Knobloch, Principal at Oliphant, a firm focused on mitigating climate change and protecting biodiversity, in part by encouraging the use of climate-friendly, renewable building materials.
Wood is a strong, durable, carbon-sequestering product that comes from our local forested lands. Producing this abundant, renewable resource can benefit woodland landowners, wildlife, and our local economy. Participants will hear about the process and journey of building a timber-framed home with locally harvested lumber, the benefits of using local wood products, and then how new technology in cross-laminated timber construction is changing and expanding the way we think of building with wood. The discussion will also explore the ripple effect of good forest management and how we can create resilient forests, a strong forest-based economy, and long-lasting homes and buildings made from local wood products.
About the full webinar series:
Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, New England Forestry Foundation and Northern Woodlands present the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series. Join us as we explore examples of how to grow, build, and live with beautiful and sustainable local wood products at different scales—from furniture to homes to institutional buildings. We will hear from presenters about their experiences working with local and regional wood, what role the material and forestry can play in a sustainable economy, and new technologies and applications for wood products that can help mitigate global climate change and spur innovation.
Three 90-minute webinars will explore these themes through conversations between the presenters and staff leaders at Massachusetts Woodlands Institute and NEFF. We hope you will join us in these engaging discussions on the beauty and benefits of this local resource for communities across Massachusetts and New England.

Forest Ecology and Management Webinar Series
2021-03-02 13:00 - 14:00 (America/Halifax)
Register (free but required in advance)
March 2, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET
Event flyer for download
Title: Assessing Future Changes in Fire Risk in the Northeastern United States using the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI)
Presenter: Daniel Miller – Hydrologist, Division of Natural Resources and Conservation Planning, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Region
Summary: The webinar will focus on one poorly understood consequence of climate change, its effects on extreme events such as wildfires. Robust associations between wildfire frequency and climatic variability have been shown to exist, indicating that future climate change may continue to have a significant effect on wildfire activity. The Northeastern United States (NEUS) has experienced severe, catastrophic historic wildfire outbreaks, such as the Miramichi Fire of 1825 and the Maine fires of 1947. However, little is known about how the direct effects of climate change (temperature & precipitation) will impact fire risk in the NEUS under future climate scenarios.

Forest to Cities. #3 in Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series
2021-03-17 14:00 - 15:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
March 17, 2021
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. ET
Learn how engineered wood products allow us to build bigger with wood, and how this new technology is an effective alternative to carbon-intensive concrete and steel construction.
learn how engineered wood products, also known as mass timber, allow us to build bigger with wood, as an alternative to carbon-intensive concrete and steel construction. This webinar will highlight a flagship mass timber building in Massachusetts—the John W. Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst. With Dr. Peggi Clouston, Professor of Wood Mechanics and Timber Engineering in the Building and Construction Technology program, as our featured speaker, we will hear about the innovative design and construction of the building, how it functions as a space of education and inspiration for the next generation of builders, and new research on the types of local tree species that can be used for mass timber.
Together with New England Forestry Foundation Chief Operating Officer Frank Lowenstein, we will then turn to where the raw material for mass timber is typically sourced and the potential for big climate change mitigation benefits when it is generated from Exemplary Forestry practices that are designed to store more carbon in the woods, while continuing to produce renewable wood products.
About the full webinar series:
Massachusetts Woodlands Institute, New England Forestry Foundation and Northern Woodlands present the Local Wood: Grow, Build, Live webinar series. Join us as we explore examples of how to grow, build, and live with beautiful and sustainable local wood products at different scales—from furniture to homes to institutional buildings. We will hear from presenters about their experiences working with local and regional wood, what role the material and forestry can play in a sustainable economy, and new technologies and applications for wood products that can help mitigate global climate change and spur innovation.
Three 90-minute webinars will explore these themes through conversations between the presenters and staff leaders at Massachusetts Woodlands Institute and NEFF. We hope you will join us in these engaging discussions on the beauty and benefits of this local resource for communities across Massachusetts and New England.

The Science of Carbon Forestry webinar
2021-04-08 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Halifax)
Register today!
April 8, 2021
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ET
As the global climate warms, questions are arising about the role of carbon in our forests and forest management options. To solve the climate crisis, we need a portfolio of options, each of which carries a different set of carbon values, co-benefits, and risks. No one approach is risk-free in the context of global change, or in the constantly-shifting global wood product markets.
In this webinar on the science of carbon forestry, we will explore the multiple co-benefits of well-managed forests and examine the nuances behind applying these concepts to forests over the long term.
Presenters:
Dr. Bill Keeton is a Professor of Forest Ecology and Forestry at the University of Vermont’s Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. Dr. Keeton researches forest ecosystem sustainability through the lenses of forest carbon management, climate change mitigation, natural disturbance ecology and silviculture, and the structure and function of old-growth and riparian forests.
Dr. John Gunn is a Research Assistant Professor of Forest Management at the University of New Hampshire and Executive Director of the nonprofit Spatial Informatics Group – Natural Assets Laboratory (SIG-NAL). Dr. Gunn’s research falls within the realm of understanding what ecological forestry “tools” we can use to reduce this divergence between managed and natural ecosystems

The Good, the Bad, and the Fuzzy: A Practical Toolkit for Forestry
2021-04-15 09:00 - 2021-04-29 12:00 (America/New_York)
Register ($60 SFEC Members, $110 Non-Members (others), $30 Students)
April 15, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. CT, and
April 22 and 29, 2021 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m CT
This workshop is eligible for 10 CAT1 SAF CFE credits.
During this three-day online workshop we’ll provide you with tools to navigate ethical decisions in professional forestry context. We‘ll examine Professional Codes of Conduct, explore case studies, and develop systematic skills of critical thinking for ethical deliberation. You’ll leave this workshop equipped with skills in argument analysis, which will enable you to think through ethical decisions methodically, and explain why your decision is justified.
Host: University of Minnesota’s Sustainable Forests Education Cooperative. For questions about the event, accessibility, or registration, please contact Kaitlyn Wilson at kaitlynw AT umn.edu.

Economics of US Forests as a Natural Climate Solution
2021-04-29 12:00 - 13:30 (America/Halifax)
Register
April 29, 2021
12:00 – 1:30 p.m. ET
A joint program between The Ohio State University, North Carolina State University, the University of Maine, the University of Idaho, and IUFRO.
Presenters will provide recent results from leading forest economic models that estimate the costs and potential of carbon sequestration in U.S. forests and provide U.S. scale estimates of forest-based mitigation potential and costs for various activities (afforestation, reforestation, forest management, rotation extensions), as well as at the regional, county and mill-shed scale for relevant activities.
A panel discussion will focus on how to move from ambition to reality on the landscape with experts on market design and implementation.

North American Forest Insect Work Conference
2021-05-26 08:00 - 2021-05-28 12:30 (America/New_York)
Register
May 26 at 8:00 a.m. – May 28 at 12:30 p.m. CT
Program is available online
Full event information is available at the conference website
Theme: “Shaping Forests: Action in a Changing World.”
The future of forest entomology will be shaped by cooperation and collaboration among researchers and educators from all professional and personal backgrounds. Therefore, it is our hope that this meeting will effect positive change in the field of forest entomology and beyond.

Fire Breaks: Fire Suppression, the "Light-Burning" Controversy, and the Return of Indigenous Flames (webinar)
2021-06-10 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Thursday, June 10, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET
Historian Char Miller’s talk “Fire Breaks” probes the varied forces advocating the suppression of wildfire in the United States, with a focus on California’s 250-year-long experience with this controversial effort to snuff out blazes, both wild and managed. Using primary sources dating back to the Spanish settler-colonial initiatives to tamp down the Indigenous Nations’ longstanding use of fire to manage their lands, Miller’s talk will also draw on subsequent and controversial efforts by California and the U.S. Forest Service to eradicate fire from the state’s public lands. This so-called “light burning” controversy erupted in the first decades of the twentieth century and has had profound implications for Indigenous communities for whom fire was, and remains, an essential tool. It has also had a clear impact on the diverse ecosystems that fire had helped nurture and for the land-management agencies at the state and federal level. The talk concludes with a discussion of the slow return of indigenous flames to forests, woodlands, and grasslands.
Once feared, fire has been embraced, even if only partially, as a vital force in contemporary forest management. Of late, a reckoning has compelled agencies and communities to acknowledge historic and contemporary harms pressed upon Indigenous peoples and to develop social policies that amplify Indigenous knowledge in a way that hitherto settler-colonial society has failed to do.
Char Miller is the W. M. Keck Professor of Environmental Analysis and History at Pomona College. He is author most recently of Hetch Hetchy: A History in Documents and America’s Great National Forests, Wildernesses, and Grasslands, as well as coeditor of Theodore Roosevelt: Naturalist in the Arena. Forthcoming in August 2021 is West Side Rising: How San Antonio’s 1921 Flood Devastated a City and Sparked a Latino Environmental Justice Movement, a portion of which is previewed in “Reclamation Project: Rediscovering W. W. Ashe and the Origins of Watershed Stewardship,” Forest History Today, Spring/Fall 2020.
Funding for this lecture is provided by the Forest History Society’s Lynn W. Day Endowment.

Bat Responses to Silvicultural Treatments (webinar)
2021-06-29 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register (you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting)
June 29, 2021
1:00 – 2:00 pm ET
Approval pending for 1, Category 1 CFE from SAF.
Agenda includes one 45-minute presentation with time for questions at the end.
Researchers have been studying bat responses to silvicultural treatments since the mid-1980s, but research on the effects of silviculture on bats has increased greatly over the past decade. This webinar will present a synthesis of this research which includes the effects of regeneration harvests, thinning, gap formation, plantation forestry, and prescribed fire on bats. Dr. Loeb will also present the results of a recent review which compares the effects of prescribed fire and wildfire on bats. The talk will conclude with a discussion of the major gaps in our knowledge and where our research efforts need to be concentrated in the future.

Passenger Pigeons: A force of forest disturbance
2021-07-29 13:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York)
Register today!
July 29, 2021
1:00 p.m. ET
Join the Consortium of Appalachian Fire Managers & Scientists to learn how this extinct species impacted forests in the U.S.
Presentations by Dr. Ian Thompson (Tribal Historic Preservation Officer, Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma) and Dr. Ben Novak (Lead Scientist, Revive & Restore) will introduce the cultural and ecological significance of passenger pigeons. We’ll consider what their disappearance means in terms of ecological disturbance processes and the implications for forest and fire management today.
From a TNC staffer: “After nearly 20 years in this field, I was disappointed to find out how little I have considered this bird as such an important influence on our historic, current, (and future?) vegetation.
Reviewing a ton of journal articles, I’m amazed how little attention is given to such significant disturbance factor, compared to fire, wind, bugs, and floods, etc.
Ben paints a heck of a picture of what it was like when these birds were around and fire managers and foresters will be able to picture how it related with fire and eastern hardwood forest structure and composition.”

A path forward: understanding and restoring degraded hardwood stands (webinar)
2021-09-22 11:00 - 13:30 (America/New_York)
Register today
September 22, 2021
11:00 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. ET
Agenda to download
2 Category 1 Continuing Education Credits through the Society of American Foresters
This webinar will explore the complexities of forest degradation as result of poor forest management planning. We will gain a basic understanding of land-use history as it pertains to forest degradation and how misconceptions of forest ecology have led to poor land management practices. Then, we will learn how forest products markets (or lack thereof) can perpetuate the mismanagement of forest resources. Once we grasp these basic concepts, we will learn from applied research on conditions of degraded forests and what we can do to restore them.
Hosted by the Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society and NRCS Working Lands for Wildlife

Collective Action for Wildfire Risk Reduction across Land Ownerships in the West (webinar)
2022-04-19 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Denver)
Register
April 19, 2022
12:00 p.m. Mountain Time (US and Canada)
Presenter: Dr. Susan Charnley, USDA Forest Service
Brief Abstract: Over the past decade, government policies and programs to incentivize “all-lands approaches” to reducing wildfire risk have emerged that call for collective action among diverse public, private, and Tribal landowners who share fire-prone landscapes. This presentation draws on research from Oregon and California to offer insights into what collective action looks like, when it is desirable, and how to promote it to increase the resilience of fire-prone forests.

A webinar on land development shifts and declining losses of forest and ag land
2022-07-19 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Register
July 19, 2022
12:00 – 1:00 p.m. Pacific Time
Webinar Presenter: Dr. Daniel Bigelow, Montana State University
Land development, which typically results from the conversion of lands previously in agricultural and forest uses, is one of the most fundamental ways in which humans impact the natural environment. We study the remarkable decline in land development rates across the conterminous United States over the period 2000–2015, which occurred after development rates had grown rapidly over the last two decades of the 20th century. Despite relatively constant population growth since 1980, we find that the current annual rate of land development has declined consistently across several stratifications of the U.S. land base and amounts to less than 25% of the peak rate observed in the mid-late 1990s, implying that the developed land base of the U.S. has become increasingly dense in recent years. We show that the widespread shift in land development rates resulted in 7 million acres of avoided land development, roughly half of which would have come from conversions of forested lands.

Conservation and Community: Beyond the Public-Private Binary in the History of Land Conservation
2022-11-15 14:00 - 15:00 (America/New_York)
Register
November 15, 2022
2:00 – 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time on Zoom
Approved for 1.0 hours of CFE credit from the Society of American Foresters.
Speaker: Curt Meine
Join us for the 2022 Lynn W. Day Lectureship in Forest and Conservation History. This year’s presenter is conservation biologist, environmental historian, and writer Curt Meine.
For more than a century, conservationists have pursued their goals through various mechanisms that recognized shared interests in the land and ecological relationships that worked across legal and jurisdictional boundaries. While they have fitfully come to understand that a wider variety of people, uses, and perspectives must be considered, progress has been constrained by a mindset that reinforces a simple division of interests: private and public. Moving from this simple binary framing to a more flexible and nuanced view may allow conservationists to embrace a wider array of community-based approaches to conserving the public interest in private land. It may also allow historians to find new insights in the evolution of conservation science, policy, and ideas. Conservation biologist and environmental historian Curt Meine will discuss this reframing and the many new opportunities it presents.
Curt serves as Senior Fellow with the Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Center for Humans and Nature. He has authored and edited several books, including the biography Aldo Leopold: His Life and Work (1988/2010) and The Driftless Reader (2017).

Sustainability Is Not Enough: From Stewardship to Reciprocity
2022-11-28 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York)
Register
Monday, November 28, 2022
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm ET
Speaker: Roger Milliken, Former President & CEO, Baskahegan Company
All Mitchell Center talks are free and open to the public. Talks are held virtually via Zoom and in-person at 107 Norman Smith Hall, UMaine.

Virtual attendance: Complete the registration form to receive Zoom connection information.
In-person attendance: The Mitchell Center requires masks for all indoor events.

In this talk, Roger Milliken explores the conflicts between a thriving forest—and society—and the traditional practice of forest management. Building on perspectives gained from 40 years of forest management and conservation, he describes the tensions experienced by those who are called to care for the region’s forests in this time of high stakes and difficult choices. He invites us to confront the conflicts between seeing the forest as resources for our use or recognizing it as a community to which we belong.
Roger first visited the Baskahegan valley in 1977. He returned in 1981 to write the history of the land and the company founded by his grandfather in 1920. First published in 1983, Forest for the Trees; A History of the Baskahegan Company was a labor of love and discovery. Milliken led the company from 1983 to 2020, expanding its land base to 150,000 acres while practicing a high standard of economically and ecologically responsible forestry.
During the same time, Roger was active in conservation efforts across northern New England and in bringing together the environmental and forestry communities to pass Maine’s Forest Practices Act and support the creation of the state’s ecological reserves system. He co- chaired campaigns by the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC) to raise $64.5 million to protect 185,000 acres along the Saint John River and the 40,000-acre Debsconeag Lakes Wilderness Area. He joined TNC’s global board of directors in 2000, and served as its board chair from 2008 to 2011.
Now formally retired, he continues to be animated by his lifelong exploration of the right relationship with nature.
To request a reasonable accommodation, contact Ruth Hallsworth, 207.581.3196 or hallsworth@maine.edu

Sparking Solutions: Wildfire Risk and Insurance
2022-11-30 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York)
Register/RSVP
November 30, 2022
Noon – 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Wildfire insurance is a useful tool to shield homeowners from the devastating impacts of wildfires. However, in some high-risk areas —particularly in California—it has become difficult to obtain an affordable policy. Some insurance companies have begun to charge higher premiums, increase deductibles, limit payouts, and even decline to write a policy at all. In these instances, homeowners can turn to Fair Access to Insurance Requirements (FAIR) plans, but these options are typically expensive and provide less coverage.
Join Resources for the Future (RFF) for an RFF Live event exploring wildfire insurance, the third in the “Sparking Solutions” webinar series. In this session, experts will discuss the important role that insurance plays in sending signals about risk, how to balance that with equity and affordability, and what options exist for handling the growing problem of insuring wildfire risks.
Speakers:

Carolyn Kousky, Environmental Defense Fund and Resources for the Future
Mike Peterson, California Department of Insurance
Nancy Watkins, Milliman
Penny Liao, Resources for the Future (Moderator)

Taking Action: Where to Start (Virtual ForestHer NC)
2022-12-08 13:00 - 14:30 (America/New_York)
Register
December 8, 2022
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time on zoom
Join other ForestHer participants as we explore the process of going from “I have land!” to actively practicing conservation on your property. It can be tough to know where to start, so we’ll be breaking things down into a clear, step-by-step guide. You, as landowners, will find out where you are in the process, and practice honing your goals to give you the best chance of success. In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, NC State will honor requests for reasonable accommodations made by individuals with disabilities. Requests can be served more effectively if notice is provided at least 10 days before the event. Please direct accommodation requests to Robert Bardon at rebardon@ncsu.edu or 919.515.5575.

Topic Forest-assisted migration in the context of climate change adaptation: Examples from the eastern USA
2023-01-25 12:00 - 13:00 (America/Chicago)
Register
January 25, 2023
Noon Central Time
Presenter: Dr. Brian Palik
There is increasing momentum to implement conservation and management approaches that adapt forests to climate change so as to sustain ecosystem functions. These range from actions designed to increase the resistance of current composition and structure to negative impacts to those designed to transition forests to substantially different characteristics. A component of many adaptation approaches will likely include assisted migration of future climate-adapted tree species or genotypes. While forest-assisted migration (FAM) has been discussed conceptually and examined experimentally for almost a decade, operationalizing FAM (i.e., routine use in forest conservation and management projects) lags behind the acceptance of the need for climate adaptation. As the vulnerability of forest ecosystems in climate change increases, FAM may need to become an integral management tool to reduce long-term risks to ecosystem function, despite real and perceived barriers for its implementation. In this webinar, we will discuss the concept of operational-scale FAM and why it remains a controversial, not yet widely adopted component of climate adaptation. We will present three case studies of operational-scale FAM to illustrate how the practice can be approached pragmatically within an adaptation framework despite the barriers to acceptance. Finally, we will discuss a path toward advancing the wide use of operational-scale FAM.
